Edinburgh jeweller

I am pretty addicted to pinterest and love that we have so much access to inspiration as jewellers there. I have recently been drawn to unusual stone settings and I find it useful to consider how the jeweller has done it as it gives me a jumping off point for ideas. Here are a few innovative designs that I love. Turquoise necklace by Cobalt blue I love the work of  by Daphne Krinos who regularly uses stones in innovative ways. This piece is a r ound brooch on 18 carat gold Swarovski crystalactite ring from Maison Margiela Thomas Giesen - acrylic ring with amethyst ball Labradorite pendant by Anna Vosburg Glauco Cambi bracelet with magnetic closure Odyssey orbital ring earrings by Silversong jewelry Fold formed pendant by beads and tricks Quay ring with pink tourmaline by Sarah Herriot Pebble stack pendant ‘heart cairn’ by Binks Edmonds This blog post was originally written for the London Jewell...

This is what's on my workbench today, I've got three pendant to finish off. I really want to get them in the kiln tonight. I've had a couple of questions about what the purple one is on instagram and facebook so I'lł let you know it's dicrotic glass. Glass can be fired in the kiln whereas most gemstones are damaged at that level of heat.

Soldering on metal clay at the London Jewellery School Yesterday I taught a soldering on metal clay class at the London Jewellery School . It is quite a specialised class and it is only the second time I've run it . I had three lovely students with an enthusiasm for metal clay! We made stud earrings, cufflinks and a brooch. I've got some action shots (above) but we were quite rushed at the end so I didn't photograph their final pieces! Here are some examples of what we make during this class

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been preparing my stock for the Things British shop in Greenwich market , London this weekend. Here are a few pieces that I will be sending in Campbell Hall UK stock for Things British The cufflinks are from my best selling bee collection. I haven't sent cufflinks to Things British before so I'll see how they do. Also new is the butterfly necklace and the leaf pendant. The leaf is made by painting layers of silver onto a real leaf, which burns away in the kiln. Before you ask, I need to get these new pieces into my etsy store too, my shop needs a lot of tlc at the moment! But the priority is getting stock into Things British as I am already paying rent there. An etsy update is coming! The hummingbird has been selling well so I will be sending two versions, the rectangle and the oval. I've still got to print out my labels and tie them on but this batch should be ready to post tomorrow. Use a twist tie to stop chains fro...

I have had a pair of my woven earrings featured in Guardian Witness . I'm planning to do more of this style for my spring/summer collection 2015 so fingers crossed that I get a feature in their Do Something issue for October. If you would take the time to click to recommend that would be lovely of you.

Photo by Alexander James I'm really happy to announce that my jewellery will be sold in the We Make London pop up shop in Camden Lock market, London . My pieces will be on sale from 2nd September until 14th October (and for longer if sales are good). I'll take some pictures of my jewellery when it's on sale to share on the blog. We Make London is a fantastic organisation that promotes UK based designer-makers. I've sold at their handmade markets before, last christmas ( here's my blog post about it ). I've also sold at Camden Lock market a couple of times but the pop up shop is fantastic for me as my jewellery will be available seven days a week and I won't need to be there! Market day is fun but it's a looooong day! So, I've been busy making more stock. I've got a few different pieces in the works at the moment too so I will get some pictures of them done soon!

On Saturday I did my first We Make London  handmade market stall at  Spitalfields market , London. I have previously only been selling online via Etsy or to people I know but I thought it was a good chance to see how well I could do at a market this close to christmas. I decided to display my  sweetie shop jewellery  rather than make a lot of silver jewellery as I'd visited the market a few weeks earlier and found that cheaper items were more likely to sell. It was a cold day but Spitalfields is under cover so there's no worry about getting rained on! It was quite a busy day and We Make London ensure there is a diversity of different handmade products available to attract customers. I was really pleased with how it went and I was very happy with my takings at the end of the day.  It is an expensive market to have a stall at but I would do it again by sharing a stall with another crafter.

As a lovely christmas present, my Mum hand knitted a cushion cover for me. Mum taught me to knit as a child and I do really enjoy knitting while watching TV! I went through a phase of just knitting scarves but it got a bit boring (and I ran out of people to give scarves to!) So I went to the Make Lounge course Beyond Scarves; how to read a knitting pattern. It was very useful and I got a much better understanding of what to do and lost some of my apprehension. So I decided to try to knit the cushion cover myself from the pattern my Mum used . It has a complicated-looking cable on it but actually it is quite straightforward as cabling goes. I had to have help from my Mum when doing the buttonholes. We don't live that close to each other so we used Skype. It was hilarious, my Dad had to hold Mum's ipad behind her shoulder and angle it so I could see what she was doing! We got there in the end and my knitting has much improved. Erika Knight striped cushion As ...

Jenna Odie of Cute Kids clocks featured my busy bee cufflinks in her blog today. Thanks so much Jenna. Take a look at her range of custom made Cute Kids Clocks

In April I wrote a blog post called Pledging to by handmade . Basically, I decided to buy at least one handmade item each month in order to support a fellow artist/maker. It's been an absolute pleasure to do so and I normally manage to buy more than one thing! Here are some of the things I've bought since April along with the details of the makers. This is Ossie the owl brooch made by UK based Christel of  Little Feathers , @ASmallWorldGirl on twitter. It's a really beautiful thing, much more fab in real life. You can see the amount of work that has gone into the stitching and beading. At the moment I have it propped up by my bed. I think I'm going to put it on a handbag. Clearly I have been into brooches in the last few weeks! I bought this one to get into the British Etsy Team BNR. And also because I love it! BNR stands for buy 'n' replace or buy now replace. I wrote more about BNRs here . I love this brooch from CLS craft creations , also UK based. It...

I have this in turquoise, from 7071 design  I have read some very interesting and thought-provoking blog posts recently about the benefits and joys of  buying handmade  items. I would recommend the  mindful spending  posts on the fantastic  Scoutie Girl  blog. Serotonin necklace from molecularmuse I particularly love the idea of  creative tithing , choosing to spend a percentage of your income each month on handmade and/or locally produced items. This idea really spoke to me because I can see the benefit to the artist and to me. The artist has the thrill of knowing that someone valued their design and work enough to invest in it which does wonders for self confidence; I know having perfect strangers buy my jewellery on  Etsy  has always made my day.  And of course, as a buyer, I love having beautiful things that have been hand made and not manufactured. Feather necklace from MijuandYou So I have made a point of buy...